sumi

Date:April 9th(Wed)-15th(Tue),2008
Place:Hankyu Department 7F,Osaka
Mr.Bakuzan Sakaki
Mr.Sakaki is 82 years old,a professional calligrapher.

a wild boar

sakura

place to smile

sakura

Spanish

My first Spanish lesson at C Flat was interesting.I enjoyed it.
I went to C Flat to help an event today.I joined one of the speaking group.
They studied Spanish in a group and the members talked about a lot things in Spanish.
I couldn't understand what they were talking about but little by little I could catch some words which sounds like English.I just listened to them carefully.
Finally I got that they said how they study Spanish.
It was really interesting and I really want to know Spanish words.
Some members also told us about their life in Spanish speaking countries.

Flower

Ikebana:Misho-ryu
Iemoto Mr.Sekiho Hihara
http://www.misho-ryu.com/english-index.htm
http://www.hanshin-dept.jp/dept/s_mishoryu_index.html
Date:13th(Thur)-18th(Tue) March ,2008
Place:Hanshin Department store,Osaka

winter

shopping center

Alaska

Hoshinoyouna Monogatari
Date:6th(Wed)-18th(Mon).Feb.2008
Place:At Daimaru Museum Kobe
(Daimaru Kobe department store 9F)
(078) 331-8121
5-min. walk from JR Motomachi Station
Michio Hashino
http://www.michio-hoshino.com/index.html
http://www.michio-hoshino.com/morito.html

beans

Mamemaki,I throw roasted soy beans at home and from the windows every year on this day.
I say "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!"
People eat uncut Makizushi called Eho-Maki on Setsubun while facing the yearly lucky compass direction.I like Makizushi very much.

Pan-heated soybeans

rain and the moon

It's been very cold these days in Japan.
It's good time to see the moon but it is rain and on the night of the full moon.
I like listen to the rain. I think I can know how much rain from the sounds.
Tomorrow I can see a river near my house is swollen after the rain and I also like to see the river.

If I Knew It

I found this on my friend's diary. Please read this.

"If I Knew It Would Be the Last Time"
by Norma Cornett Marek

If I knew it would be the last time
that I'd see you fall asleep,
I would tuck you in more tightly
and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.

If I knew it would be the last time
that I see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss
and call you back for one more.


If I knew it would be the last time
I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would video tape each action and word,
so I could play them back day after day.

For surely there's always tomorrow
to make up for an oversight,
and we always get a second chance
to make everything right.

There will always be another day
to say our "I love you's",
And certainly there's another chance
to say our "Anything I can do's?"

But just in case I might be wrong,
and today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you
and I hope we never forget,

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance
you get to hold your loved one tight.

So if you're waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you'll surely regret the day,

That you didn't take that extra time
for a smile, a hug, or a kiss
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today,
and whisper in their ear,
that you love them very much and
you'll always hold them dear.

Take time to say "I'm sorry,"
"Please forgive me," "thank you," or "it's okay".
And if tomorrow never comes,
you'll have no regrets about today.

The earth

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

(IMAGINE /John Lennon)

New Year's Eve

Merry Christmas!

May all the best to you!!!
Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas time

Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto

Tofuku-ji Temple in Kyoto

http://www.tofukuji.jp/index2.html

Christmas Tree in Kobe

Thursday, November 8, 2007
47 Days Until Christmas

Lunch Meeting

A University

A Cafe in Kobe

A port at night

Halloween

Museum

Osaka

Sweets

Sky

Kobe

grocery shop

I went to Motomachi in Kobe and dropped by a grocery shop at Motomachi shopping center.
I found a ice cream by chance and bought it.
I don't eat ice cream so often but it is new for me and My friend recommended the mango ice which is from Australia. It is rally yummy!
The shop staff gave me a little piece of the ice in front of the shop and I tasted it.
There are many kinds of food from many countries in a shop.

summer

I found some Japanese stuff for summer.
These are some fans which are very pretty and also hand towels.
Some people use a mosquito coil(katori-senkou) out of doors.
We put a mosquito coil in a pig ceramics incense holder.

Kamogawa

I went to Kyoto to see my friend last month.
She draw a Japanese-style paint and she put on a solo exhibition.
I also met some of my friends in the place by chance.
The paintings are really colourful. She used many colours for them and I like to see them. But she doesn't have her exhibition every year.
It was the last day of the exhibition, so after the exhibition we packed her beautiful paintings into some boxes together.

Stars

I went to Hawaii with my family and came back last week.
We were very busy there and we had just for 3 days! for free time.
I was always with my parents.
We went to the beach and some shops.
My mum and I have allergenic for sun,
plus we were not interested in shopping in a souvenir shop,
so it was not good condition for us....a little bored.

The beach is clean and nice scenery and we climbed Diamond Head.
It took for 40 mins. to the top.We met many tourists there.
It also has a nice view from Diamond Head.
We could see the beautiful blue sea and Honolulu town.

There were a Japanese Festival* at the last night
at Honolulu we were there.
Many Japanese visited and dancing Hula, singing Japanese songs,
and performing drums or some...It was fun but it was just like Japanese summer festival in Japan!!!
I went to Ukulele shop by myself.There are many Ukulele in a shop.

But most interesting thing was watching stars.
We visited Hawaii island too.It is more natural and I like there.
I could see a lot of stars at night.It was really really dark.
There was no light in a street, and we parked a car near there.
The stars were so beautiful!!!There are some observatory on a mountain.I'd like to go to the observatory next time.
My friend recommended to go there,she went to see the stars.
You can watch more stars there.
This is my trip to Hawai'i.

*The 28th Annual Celebration
Matsuri in Hawaii(Pan-Pacific Festival)
with the King Kamehameha Celebration
Date:2007.6.8(Fri)-6.10(Sun)/Place:Waikiki, Ala Moana Center
Japan Grand Sumo Hawaii Tournament at Neal Blaisdell Center(6/9,6/10)
Matsuri in Hawaii began in 1980 as a cultural exchange between Japan and Hawaii.
(http://www.pan-pacific-festival.com/B_history.aspx)

hydrangea

Hawaiian Festival

Aloha Summer Festival in Osaka 2007
You can enjoy Hula & Hawaiian Music!
Many Hula dancing groups are coming and have some live music too.
Please come and enjoy Hula dance and nice music!!!
Time:May 25th(Fri)16:00-21:00
26th(Sat)11:00-21:00
27th(Sun)11:00-21:00
Place:Umeda Sky building
Fee:Free

Kobe

Kobe Nankinmachi

Kobe Nankinmachi

kobe nankinmachi

C.All blacks

The Classic All Blacks team will play the first match on Wednesday the 9th of May.
Date:May 9th/19:30
Place:Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium
Kirwan has made arrangements for a Japan XV to take on a Classic All-Blacks team, featuring the likes of Jonah Lomu, Carlos Spencer,and play the second Match on Saturday the 12th of May, kicking off at 14:00 at Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Stadium.
Classic All Blacks:
1 Joe McDonnell,2Matt Sexton,3 Gordon Slater,4Royce Willis,
5Simon Maling, 6Scott Robertson,7Sam Harding,8 Ron Cribb,
9Justin Marshall, 10Andrew Mehrtens, 11 Jonah Lomu,
12Tony Brown,13Scott McLeod,14 Jeff Wilson,15 Carlos Spencer,
16Lance Po Ching,17Kup Vanisi,18Charles Riechelmann,19Paul Thomoson,20Jamie Joseph, 21Mark Robinson,22Eric Rush,23Mark Ranby,24Pita Alatini

Talk Show at FORTYFIVE
Date:May 8th 19:00(open)/19:30~21:00
Place:「FORTYFIVE」Kobe(078-241-3000) MC:Kouichi Murakami
Guest:Andrew Mehrtens/Royce Wills
Fee:1000 yen(with1 Drink)

Namba

I went to Namba in Osaka. I had a hamburger at KUA'AINA.
Osaka Baseball Stadium had closed and opened a new shopping place in Namba.It's "Namba Parks".
It's near Namba station and they also have an office building, Parks Tower and shopping mall, many kinds of restaurants and Parks Cinema.
http://www.nambaparks.com/cinema
http://www.kua-aina.com/